Voters approve 17.8 percent increase in RASA

Phyllis Booth Reporter

Thursday

May 24, 2007 at 12:01 AM

Against a recommendation by the town's Advisory Board, Princeton voters, by a vote of 87 to 48, at the May 15 annual town meeting approved a voluntary Regional Agreement Spending Assessment (RASA) of $433,550 above the required net minimum contribution the town is state mandated to spend for education.

That approval came after lengthy discussion. The Advisory Board opposed spending any more than last year's RASA amount of $376,632.

The RASA number and the funds for road reconstruction were the big-ticket items held out when voters were asked to approve the FY08 $7,781,330 budget.

Princeton's net minimum contribution increased by 3.5 percent over last year, from $3,578,486 to $3,713,470. The RASA increase is up 17.8 percent; long-term regional Wachusett Regional school debt up 218 percent from $52,406 to $166,963; regional transportation up 14.5 percent from $106,065 to $121,403, and Princeton's share of the capital program assessment, new this year for work being done at Paxton Center School, is $6,165.

The town's total assessment increase over last year is 8.2 percent, according to Town Administrator Dennis Rindone. Region-wide the school budget increase is 7.3 percent, he added.

Advisory Board Chairman Sheila Dubman said her board didn't approve the RASA increase for a reason.

"The school budget is growing in excess of seven percent each year," she said. "Town department's have kept admirably within the 2 1/2 percent cap. But the schools continue to grow and grow. In about 10 years Princeton will cease to exist because the money will all be going to the schools. That's the way it will play out unless we stop this runaway train.

"We have to accept all the things we can't change, but there is one line item in the budget we can do something about and that's RASA. We want that to remain constant at last year's number," she added.

Princeton WRSDC representative Kathleen Sweeney said the school number represented a "compromise budget."

"It's been worked out between town and school officials for a long time," she said. "It gives us a partial road program and gives the school some of what it wants."

Thompson Road resident Edith Morgan wanted to know what the Thomas Prince School would get as a result of the budget increase. "We already pay twice as much as Rutland. It's taxpayers' money," she said.

Princeton is one of five towns in the district, said Sweeney. "We need to look at the budget as part of a district," she said. Part of the money goes to the high school, which serves Princeton students, Sweeney noted.

"What's important is that we're growing faster than your revenue is growing," said School Superintendent Thomas Pandiscio. "We have to look at how schools are being funded in the first place. The state gives us calculations that tell us how much we need to spend on teachers. What the state has done is set up a structural conflict between towns and schools."

Pandiscio said the region would have to cut 157 teachers if the district funded at the foundation level set by the state. "If we stuck with the FY07 RASA number, the studentteacher ration would be 37.5 to one instead of 19.9 to one," he said. "The bottom line is the operations assessment grows out of the fact the state doesn't fund education properly."

Said Goodnow Road resident David Lowenthal: "Our Advisory Board is telling us we can't continue this or we'll go bankrupt. We can't assume the legislature will make a change. If schools continue to grow at seven percent we won't be able to sustain it."

Advisory Board member Jerry Gannelli wanted the RASA number to be voted on contingent on a Proposition 2 1/2 override. Selectmen removed the contingency wording on the town meeting floor.

"We're hearing we can do it this year because we're under the levy limit," said Gannelli. "But what about next year? … We all want to support education but not at the expense of infrastructure and other needs in Princeton. It's irresponsible to support education and not support overrides."

Select Board Chairman Alan Sentkowski said the town is not at the limit, but is very close to it. "Next year we'll be faced with a huge problem," he said.

It was the selectmen's decision not to make the RASA contingent on an override, said Sentkowski. "Because the other towns support the school budget we'd have to pay anyway. Next year we will have to go for an override," he said.

If Princeton and one more town were to reject the school budget it would have to go back to the school committee, argued Dubman. "We expect another half million could be cut without doing any damage. The part we can control, we must."

Princeton's other school committee representative, Robert Imber, urged voters to support the school committee's request. "We want to maintain the class sizes," he said.

"No matter what, next year is going to be tough and we'll face a disaster," said Main Street resident Judy Dino "but schools are my priority."

Because the Advisory Board didn't approve the RASA request, a paper ballot was required.